While many of the known club head designs are merely ornamental, some club head designs are claimed to provide a player with some degree of control over the trajectory of a ball struck by the club head or to provide a more "balanced" club head. These game improvement clubs generally encompass a variety of materials and mass/weight distribution patterns. The main purpose for the design of most of these balanced club heads is to improve consistency and performance.
The art is replete with examples of iron-type golf club heads that include features such as club heads having a single cavity on the back, club heads having a single stepped cavity on the back, club heads having a single cavity and one or more weights on the back, club heads having a single cavity on the back surrounded by a sectionalized peripheral belt, club heads having two or more cavities on the back, and club heads having one or more weights disposed within a closed cavity.
The present inventor's earlier U.S. Design Patent D371,182 discloses a dual-cavity iron-type golf club head having on its back surface an upper larger cavity separated from a lower smaller cavity. Further, the dual cavity club head does not operate similar to the club heads of the present invention since it does not employ point loads for weight distribution.
Antonius (U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,172) discloses an iron-type golf club head having two equally-sized bridge members spaced away from the back of the club head and attached to the peripheral belt surrounding the back of the club head. The two bridge members of equal mass must be disposed on opposite sides of and be equally spaced from the center of percussion. This type of construction provides a club head having a striking face with a softer feel; however, this club head fails to impart any significant effect upon or control of the trajectory of a ball struck by the club head, i.e., Antonius fails to disclose a club head having a single bridge member spaced away from the back of the club head, wherein the position, shape and/or mass of the bridge member influences the trajectory of a ball struck by the club head.
Known iron-type golf club heads generally address the issue of controlling golf ball trajectory by altering club head mass distribution; however, none of the known art discloses an iron-type golf club head according to the present invention which comprise a single bridge member attached to a peripheral belt surrounding a cavity on the back of the club head, wherein the bridge-member superposes the cavity and influences the trajectory of a golf ball struck by the club head.